CurlingSteve

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Posts posted by CurlingSteve

  1. My turn...

    Ghost 10.0 + USB Hub = BSOD

    System Specs:

    Dell XPS (Gen 1) Laptop with:

    3.4 GHz P4

    2 GB RAM

    60 GB HD

    ATI Radeon Mobility 9800 256 MB graphics)

    XP Pro SP2 fully updated

    Sony DW-R56A DVD

    Belkin F5U237 7 Port Powered USB Hub (XP's Generic Hub Driver 5.1.2600) hosting:

    200 GB Maxtor OneTouch HD

    120 GB Western Digial HD

    250 GB Maxtor HD

    Dazzle DVC 150B Video Capture

    Sony DRU-720A DVD

    ----------------

    Frequently (but not always) when I turn on or reboot with the USB hub (and its attached devices) powered up I get a BSOD about halfway through the boot cycle:

    STOP 0x0000008E - 0xC0000005 0x804E13C0 0xF790A614 (varies) 0x00000000

    That decodes as

    KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED

    UNHANDLED_EXCEPTION

    Everything was fine until I installed Norton Ghost 10.0.

    If I turn off or unplug the hub it boots properly.

    If I uninstall Ghost 10 it boots smoothly even with the hub on.

    The response from an e-mail to Symantec was:

    "This can occur due to the conflicts with the Hub and the associated drivers.I suggest that you can disable the Hub and try.

    As of now there are no patches available for this issue and would be updated in the Symantec website if any changes are made in the future."

    The Belkin hub uses XP's drivers, there is no Belkin software installed.

    -----------

    Other than the Dazzle, all the devices connected to the hub use XP's drivers.

    But even with the Dazzle disconnected from the hub I get the BSOD.

    It's a powered hub, and according to the documentation should be able to 'host" 500ma per port (4A power brick).

    Device Manager tells me the hard drives use 100ma each, as does the Dazzle; the DVD just 2ma.

    So I shouldn't be overpowering the hub.

    -----------

    Has anyone else had a similar problem, and better still, found a better solution than turning the hub off and on?

    I'd prefer not "thrashing" (power cycling) the drives on the hub.

    For example, it there a way I can force drivers to load in a particular order?

  2. Dust clogging the fans screens will shoot the temperatures up in a hurry.

    I clean mine (from the outside) daily, but the other day my temps went through the roof.

    When I opened the case I found mats of dust so dense they looked like filters until I touched them.

    I think you'll find something similar if you open the case and clean inside.

  3. I do use clicking the column headers to sort them the way I want.

    What I'm looking for is to have Task Manager remember the way it was sorted (so I don't have to click the CPU column header twice each time I open Task Manager).

    Explorer windows (folders) for instance remember whether they were last sorted by Name or Type.

    I wonder if there's some way to have Task Manager do the same.

    Task Manager does remember which tab was last open, but not the sort order.

    Perhaps shortcut/command line switches can do that but I haven't been able to find out what they might be (yet).

  4. I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to get Task Manager to open to the Processes tab with the columns sorted by most CPU time on top.

    When one closes Task Manager it will open with the last selected tab open, so that part is easy.

    But the Processes tab opens in a sort order I can't figure out.

    Does anyone know if the Tab/Sort Column can be specified in a command/shortcut line?

    ----------

    Now I see it sorts the processes by descending PID number.

  5. The fans on some of my laptops turn on immediately at power-up then throttle back after the POST or some other temperature monitor takes over.

    If the laptop doesn't feel hot, I wouldn't be overly concerned.

    My Dell XPS just jumped from 50 to 70 C according to Everest, but I changed nothing.

    And a System Restore takes it back to 50.

    Still tracking down this mystery...

    ------

    Back up to 70, fans screaming, trying a "ghost" (image backup) from October.

    ------

    No joy, still reporting hot in Everest, even with the case cold.

    ------

    Possible solution, stood it on end and tapped.

    Maybe moved a dust bunny.

    I did have it open to replace the keyboard (always get an extended warranty for laptops).

    I thought I blew out all the dust while it was open, but I may have moved a "bunny" to the wrong place.

  6. I agree with you, my goal is to solve problems as best I can, not police posts.

    That's where I choose to spend my time.

    I have Moderator priveleges (thanks for the honor), but haven't used them yet.

    Short of moving a post to a more appropriate forum, I don't know where I would/should draw the line.

    There's NO justification for profanity on any board, especially a help forum like this.

    Nor should back and forth flaming occur (or be allowed in my opinion).

    Unless a poster has a reasonable (even if wrong) contribution to the problem, they should just sit back and watch.

    (Exposing wrong solutions is just as important as finding the right ones).

  7. I've found it very hard not to respond in kind.

    I sympathize with the "old guard" people that now give what they get (or have given up completely).

    Some folks have been around for quite a while, and work hard to solve a particular problem.

    Posters that interject "me too", "Google it", or nonsense to bump their count bother me a lot.

    I don't know about the rest of the folks with any kind of Mod privelege, but I prefer to spend my time helping correcting (not policing) posts so they make sense.

    I'm looking to solve problems and learn along the way.

    I do wish (as Moderator in some forums) I could delete useless posts in a thread.

    Along those lines, I'm trying to accumulate a group of "best of" answer threads to common questions along the lines of the "Commonly Recommended.." thread in G4.

  8. Pete_C,

    I haven't tried it that way.

    My experiments this afternoon (chasing a different problem) make me think you're right.

    Ghost 2003 anyway seems to want to reboot between sessions/partitions which leads me to believe this is how they handle the different partition sizes.

    I haven't explored the process this deeply before.

    I assumed (apparently wrongly) that cloning was the only way to get the boot sectors written.

    Can one clone a partition? (I thought that was only a drive level function).

    Cloning does include the boot partition, but I thought that also forced the same partition sizes.

    ------------

    I'm experimenting with this as we speak, (replacing a 20 GB drive with a 60 on my Solo with a different partitioning structure).

    I'll let you know.

    I have a different mystery (problem) on this Solo 9550XL to get past first (which should be in another thread).

    9550 doesn't boot to a CD regardless of the sequence set in the BIOS unless I F8 then CTRL-ALT-DEL.

    Then it will boot the CD.

    But it boots to a floppy on the "first try".

    It doesn't matter which sequence I set the boot order to in the BIOS.

    (And believe me, I've tried them all).

    No matter where I put the CD drive in the sequence it won't boot to it without the "salute" interception.

    (BIOS reflashes haven't solved it, I tried every version Gateway offers).

  9. Crucial usually includes Dual Channel as part of their recommendations.

    With only 3 slots available, I doubt that is available to you.

    And your system will usually automatically detect whether it can take advantage of Dual Channel mode "invisibly".

    It's a low level choice one does not get an option to enable or disable.

    In any event, it is often recommended that all memory modules be the same.

    They tend to "cooperate" better when paired with identical siblings.

  10. I haven't looked at the internals of the extension (nor have I installed an tried it), but I'd bet all it's doing is opening IE as a tab in Firefox.

    Therefore, you're still exposed to any IE vulnerabilities.

    Don't think it's isolating you from IE vulnerabilities.

    And keep this in mind.

    As Firefox becomes more popular, the more likely it will be attacked.

    There are plenty of vulnerable places in Firefox as well.

    Bottom line, watch what you allow to install on your system.

  11. As far as I can tell, each update from the Microsoft Download Center has to be downloaded separately.

    But at least once you have that copy you don't have to download it again.

    I suppose you could write a script or batch file to install them all, but I haven't tried it.

    There are also ways to write an unattended installation file that guides XP's installation process automatically.

    That file has answers to all the questions XP has along the way.

    I haven't tried it, but if you want I can try to hunt up some links about it.

    Are you familiar with Slipstreaming?

    This process lets you create an XP Installation CD with the SP2 updates integrated already.

    So when you install using this CD you're at the XP-SP2 level.

    The updates you download from Windows Update Catalog or Microsoft Download Center can be merged into that image as well.

    It's tedious, but the final CD is as up to date as possible.

    There is software available to automate the CD creation process.

    One I've been trying (and liking) is nLite.

    In theory you can create a CD that includes XP, drivers, and updates all in one package.

    And you can script the install process so it runs unattended.

    I haven't tried pushing nLite to the limit yet, but I have succesfully created and used CD's that have all the updates through the end of November.

    I've had some trouble integrating drivers and haven't tried the unattended style yet, but I'm fairly sure my problems are the way Dell packages their "reinstall the drivers" CD.

    Things go fine if I just let XP handle XP and install the drivers Dell's way.

  12. Actually, seeing that "Choose an Operating System" screen isn't so bad (to me) if you set the Timeout down to (say) 3 seconds.

    It counts down then starts booting the default choice fast enough that I don't mind the small delay.

    I keep my BOOT.INI file set to allow a choice of Normal, Safe Mode, Clean, or Recovery Console.

    Instead of trying to hit F8 at just the right time to choose Safe Mode, I have 3 seconds to hit the down arrow key (which stops the countdown).

    (Actually any key would probably do this).

    I love the idea of having a clean copy of XP on a separate partition for emergencies.

    Technically this is a violation of the XP EULA (unless you own a second copy/license).

    I hope Microsoft will change their position on that (I won't hold my breath though).

    Fair Use should allow multiple copies on the same machine.

  13. That is a nice price, but all you need is a wireless router.

    You don't need the PCI (desktop) or PCMCIA (laptop) cards.

    Whatever router you get will have instructions for the hookup, but usually it's very easy.

    Generally it goes like this.

    (1) Turn off everything (your computers and your cable/DSL modem).

    (2) Connect the modem to the Internet (or WAN or Uplink) port on the router.

    This port is usually separated from the port(s) computers can wire to by a small gap.

    (3) Turn on the modem and let it boot fully (2-3 minutes is often enough).

    (4) Trun on the router and let it boot fully (again 2-3 minutes).

    (5) Turn on your computer(s) and they should detect the router and connect.